This is my repository of some of the articles and academic papers I have written since 2007 on just about any topic under the sun. They are mostly SEO and product review articles, blog posts, commentaries, research term papers and dissertations. Feel free to use them for your purposes.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Get Rid of your Sedentary Working Lifestyle

There are many health improvement initiatives you can do to
mitigate the growing risks you face as a result of stymied physical activity in
21st century corporate America. But one major area that can make a huge health
difference is to overhaul your sedentary lifestyle. Every health pundit knows
that spending more time sitting means less physical activity that promotes
weight gain and all the co-morbidities that increase your risks to heart
disease and obesity. It may be easier said than done, but getting rid of your
sedentary lifestyle can be one major strategic health improving initiative that
can drastically reverse your body’s descent into all sorts of disease
vulnerability. Make a stand towards a healthier working lifestyle. Literally,
that is. Consider the following:

(1) Dr. John Buckley of the Chester University in England and
a former university colleague, Professor Stuart Biddle, made a new year's
resolution in 2013 to spend at least 3 hours each day standing instead of
sitting on their desks. They both modified a lectern into a working desk on
which they can do their work standing up. The former US Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld was known to work on his office papers standing up. To date, he
remains in good health at age 81.

(2) A US survey conducted in 2003 - 2004 quantified the
sedentary lifestyle when it showed that Americans spend on average half their
waking time sitting, or 8 hours out of 16. That was not entirely surprising
when you consider that for office employees in an 8-hour workshift, about the
only time they get to stand up is when taking a 15-minute break to the pantry,
or discharging a biological necessity. Fast food deliveries make it easy to get
their lunch served while doing their desk jobs. This, not to mention the fact
that they sit an hour or more driving to/from the office through rush hour traffic,
eat with the family on the dining table, and watch TV on their favorite couch
or in bed. Weekends could be just as bad if they spend more time in bed, watch
the home movies they missed during the week, or play video games.

(3) Sitting is best done to relax the body for a few minutes
in between physical activities. But with a sedentary lifestyle, sitting becomes
the main activity to get work done on your PC. Sitting behind the desk burns
around 80 calories per hour. On the other hand, standing burns around 115
calories per hour. A 35 calorie/hour burn difference may not be much but not
when you spend an average of 8 hours each day seated. By the time you call it a
day, you will have missed the opportunity to lose or not gain about 280
calories. A little more math will show that in a year, that translates to about
100,000 calories you failed to burn or 28 lbs that was either added to your
weight or didn't lose.

Conclusion

Do yourself a favor and say goodbye to your sedentary
lifestyle. It's a strategic health initiative that will require you to convert
an old lectern into your working desk, modify a bar counter into one, or simply
ask a good carpenter to build a 12-15-inch high pedestal to mount your desk.
How much would that cost you? Maybe a few hundred dollars of customized
carpentry work as an investment. But how much are you willing to spend to lose
28 lbs in a year? This is sound weight management and a healthier body you can
get without even altering your food intake, daily routines, or leisure activities.
Think about it and resolve to do the same thing as what Dr. Buckley and Prof
Biddle did.

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About Me

Semi-retired since 2009 and now working as a freelance photo editor/colorist and online writer. Started out as an avionics mechanic at Philippine Airlines, transferred to its Marketing and IT departments before becoming the MIS head for Citadel Holdings. Then went on to become BPO Mobilization Manager at Accenture and finally Business Development Director at an Ads agency.